Here are some of your frequently asked questionsOn Numerous occasions people have asked how the transformation was done of making our small 4 room home into this magnificent 22 room Theme House.

What is your favorite room? Music has always been the center of my life. Starting at the age of 13, I was fortunate enough to have the talent to start a music group called The Wantells. We played proms, high school dances and finally were represented by an agency out of Boston. I feel fortunate to have performed with many greats such as Brenda Lee, The Drifters, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Danny and the Juniors, Little Eva, Fifth Dimension.After years with The Wantells I received aphone call from the recording group The Rondellsas they needed a vocalist and bass player. Werecorded hits in the 50's Backbeat Part 1 ,Satan's Theme , using the name Grump recordedbillboard charted Heartbreak Hotel in the late 60's. This group was not only a great sounding groupbut a very entertaining one as well. It's nice thatI'm still in contact with all my old musician friends.Shown here is a picture of Rockin' Bobby Collinsand World famous drummer Lenny Collins. Thanks you guys for the good times. I'd like to give credit to a couple of more people who I have shared the stage with who have influenced my life- the talented sax player and vocalist- Lenny Baker ofSha Na Na who I still speak with on a weekly basis, who is enjoying his retired life in New England who received the Ten Platinum Album from the movie "Grease". John Paiva who was with The Platters, the Happenings, Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons and Fats Domino. What a pleasure it was working with such a talented musician who is still a very close and dear friend. So My favorite room has got to be the Fabulous 50's due to the time I spent backing "The Platters". Sitting in this 55 Chevy listening to the oldies brings me serenity. Now, on the other hand, Miriam loves entertaining in her favorite room, which of course would be the Western Saloon as she always loves company and believe me, there have been a lot of laughs and good times in the old west....

What possessed you to build a theme home? Before residing in Florida I lived in the suburbs of Boston and had a small duplex home. There I started with unusual styling of home design but didn't have the space to continue with my ideas. Meeting my wife, Miriam, in 1973 we found we had similar interests. My imagination pointed me toward having a large home that could contain movie sets and themes. We found the perfect location in Pinellas Park, FL where we had room to expand our dreams.

How do you Protect and Secure your home? We are very focused on the safety and security of our home. Having a home of this magnitude and securing it was our #1 objective. We have a state of the art closed circuit tv system that patrols around the home as well as in the home. A 24 hour a day monitor system directly records and dispatches police at any interruption. Also security cameras on the grounds that are monitored and recorded 24-7. We can truly say we feel safe and secure in our home.

If you wanted to sell your home, how would you list it? We have, naturally, as everyone has, discussed the possibility of changing our lifestyle. This home was never this large but over the years it has become our lives. Sometimes we grow tired of the upkeep and the time spent on repairs. There is alot of unfinished work still to be done.. and presently finding time to do this is also a problem. But if we did ever decide on this drastic move I think we would have to list it in a national publication to find people with the type of interest and care that we have. Through the years Miriam, Jena and myself have gotten our own personalities involved in building this monster... and we could never even think of living anywhere else and leaving the memories behind. Hopefully we'll be here forever.

How did you get the car in the house? Actually, over two years was put into the designing of the ten room addition before we even started. I heard of a two door hardtop Chevy Bellair coupe for sale in White, Georgia at a place called "Old Car City". Tom Maddalena and myself decided to take a trip to see if it was worth bringing home as we had seen some graphic undesirable pictures of this automobile. But we had to see it in person.

Then became restoration time. An earth shattering Bose speaker system was installed, and the special ordering of the vintage hardware had commenced. This continued for many months and we never thought we'd see the day when this car was completed.This is one of the leading questions asked when someone enters our house for the first time.

Are there any more projects you have planned? There is an unfinished jacuzzi room adjacent to our master bedroom. Miriam and I have always thought of taking the wall out that separates the two and make it all one roman empire style room. Finding a way to exhaust the steam from the jacuzzi room without losing air-conditioning may be a problem as this particular room is in the center of our home. But as usual we will find a way. I have just finished creating , hopefully, my last theme which i have wanted to do for quite a while involving Cape Cod, Massachusetts where i presently have a cottage on a lake-I have a vintage rowboat I've had since i was the age of 12.. I've incorporated that with the dockside presentation of Amity Island.. the setting for the movie "Jaws" using actual lifesize sharks for this dramatic drama. You will have to see it to believe.

This has been a remarkable experience for us through the years and we hope everyone has enjoyed it as much as we have liked seeing the expressions and the look on faces of the friends and guests that we have over so often. Looking forward to seeing more smiles and new friendly faces in the future.

On behalf of Miriam, Jena and myself we would like to thank each and every one of you for taking time out of your lives to enjoy with us what we have enjoyed creating.

How do you maintain such a large home? Maintaining this size home has, and will always be, a problem. Knowing this, we have accepted the fact that maintenance will always be a lifetime chore. Yes, I get frustrated and even upset at times when a lot of problems happen together but fortunately, I have friends I can count on to solve any situation. At some time I will face the fact that I will need to consult with a maintenance company that will take care of the grounds as well as our home. Many thanks to Gary Forbes , Tom Maddalena ,Steve Holstrom and Rick Leska for all your help.

Where do you get the ideas for your home? As stated earlier, I have always liked the "unusual". I have the ability and focus on seeing what a project will look like before I start it. The personal drive that I have won't let me rest until that project is over. I am able to dream and remember what I have dreamt. I have been known to always keep a pad and pencil by my bedside for any ideas that I might dream. In one instance while my wife was on vacation I dreamt of an evening out with the guys and during the dream I had a conversation with a male sitting next to me. We were exchanging thoughts and he began talking of his unusual home and mentioned many various things that I also had in my home. As time went on we became friends having the same type of unusual home. We decided to drive to our houses for similar viewing as we both lived close by. Following him, I was shocked that he had turned down my street! And then, unbelievably, he drove into My driveway! To my amazement, remembering this is a dream, I saw the front of my home completely done and was able to complete the whole front of my home before my wife came back from her vacation as I usually surprise her with something. In that dream I saw a circular driveway, A waterfall with a moat around the front porch, Big white pillars for support of the eighteen foot overhang porch, five huge boulders to accent the landscaping, with large pieces of driftwood in the center. I have a problem of not getting any sleep until that certain project is done. So for that big surprise the project was completed by the time of Miriam's return.. 8 tons of stone later....

Your house is like a museum.. what is it like to live there? People have always used the term "museum" when referring to our home. Understand through the years this has been a very gradual process. Accumulating so many unusual and meaningful treasures, when things develop over the years you are blinded to the collection you've established. So we can understand someone might think at their first impression of our home that they could consider this a sort of museum.

With a house this large you must have a large family..... We do have a very large family consisting of two sons, two daughters and five grandchildren. Wayne and Michael Manna both reside in Hanover, Massachusetts. Both have become very successful businessmen as owners of TopTech Roofing, Inc.Linda Manna, our oldest daughter residing in Braintree Massachusetts, spends a great deal of time as secretary to the business and mother to three of our five grandchildren. Jena Spencer, our youngest daughter, an extremely talented vocalist, who has persued her music career in Nashville now resides here in St. Petersburg and is currently with a manager. Fortunately we have plenty of room to accommodate such a large family.

It was a rusty, old stripped down, floorless piece of junk.. but we decided to take our chances and towed it home to Florida. A cement slab was poured, the car was cut at an auto body shop length wise so it could be placed against a wall. We had it pulled and towed over the foundation and on to this cement slab. Then the building process began. This became a nightmare as it was extremely dangerous to spray paint the car inside of a residence as the enamel paint is highly combustible so we couldn't have any electric or lighting on during this procedure. A visquene tent had to be built around the car with an exhaust fan and 6 inch dryer tubing running to the outside to pull the poisonous gases and fumes out of the home.